I am a retired counselor, counselor-educator and counseling supervisor in Arizona. I am joining counseling professionals from across the country to urge you to stop the proposed counselor licensing regulations that would require graduation from a CACREP-accredited program for licensure in Virginia. The majority of highly-qualified counselor training programs, including programs in Virginia, are not CACREP-accredited and research does not indicate that counselors who have graduated from CACREP programs are more effective in their work with clients or in their service to their communities. There is also no evidence to support that counselors from CACREP-accredited programs are more ethical or more helpful to clients or the communities within which the counselors practice. If you examine the MPCAC-accredited programs, you will see that counseling graduates from  these programs are highly-skilled and competent and are making a difference in the communities they serve.A regulation limiting practice would not serve the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia well. It would reduce  the services available to Virginia residents; increase the cost of graduate education; and increase the difficulty for qualified counselors in relocating to Virginia. I urge you  to stop this proposal.

Respectfully,

Michael Hutchins, Ph.D., LPC
Tucson AZ 85718